Composite floor for buildings and like structures



Sept. 27, 1938 j YOUNG 2,131,652

COMPOSITE FLOOR FOR BUILDINGS AND LIKE STRUCTURES Filed Feb. 19, 1936 Patented Sept. 27, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFjFlCE COMPOSITE FLOOR FOR BUILDINGS AND LIKE STRUCTURES James Howard Young, Pittsburgh, Pa., asslgnor to H. H, Robertson Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation oi Pennsylvania Application February 19, 1936, Serial No. 64,689

1 Claim.

This invention has for its object to provide a building or other structure with a composite floor of minimum thickness having a fully fire-resisting upper member of concrete or like fire-resisting material, and a metal lower member composed of metal sheets of such construction as to form a permanent part of the building and provide a permanent form upon which the concrete may be poured, and one of which provides for the proper depth and strength of the concrete member, and the other of which provides for a substantially flat ceiling and raceways or ducts between the ceiling and the concrete member, which ducts or raceways are readily accessible from above and below the composite floor.

To this end the metal lower member may be provided with a substantially fiat lower metal sheet and a corrugated upper metal sheet, which sheets are supported upon beams, girders or other supporting members to form a permanent part of the building.

The upper corrugations of the corrugated metal sheet are designed to be filled with concrete and form ribs on the underside of a concrete slab, which latter maybe made of any thickness required by the authorities. The upper corrugations are madeof substantial depth and-have laid in them metal rods or other metal reinforcement for the concrete ribs.

The lower substantially flat metal plate or shee cooperates with the lower corrugations. to close them and form ducts or raceways for electric wires, and also forms a ceiling plate or sheet which provides the room or space below the com- .posite floor with a substantially fiat metal ceiling which can bepainted or otherwise finished.

The ducts or raceways may be entered from above through holes or openings extended down' through the concrete member and through the top walls of the ducts or raceways, or they may be entered from below through the ceiling sheet.

The metal ceiling sheet and the corrugated upper sheet co-operate' to form a permanent form of the desired strength to sustain the load' of concrete poured upon them, and also cooperate to provide the composite floor of the In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 represents a suflicient portion of a building and a floor (Cl. '12-'10) v thereof to enable the invention to be understood, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. v

Referring to the drawing, l0, I! .represent two beams, girders or like floor supporting members, which are such as now commonly used in the construction of buildings having a steel or other metal framework. I I

The supporting members l0, l2 which will be hereinafter referred to as beams, may be of any desired number for each floor of the building, depending upon the width and length of the latter.

In the present instance, two beams are shown, as it is believed that this number is sumcient to enable the invention to be clearly understood.

The beams -Ill, l2 are separated by a substantial space l3, which is covered by the improved floor, and to this end the beams l0, I! support the opposite ends of a metal sheet l4, which constitutes the ceiling metal sheet of the improved floor. r

The ceiling metal sheet H has superimposed upon it a corrugated metal sheet l5, which is of substantially the same length as the ceiling metal sheet I l and has its opposite ends extended over and supported by the beams l0, l2. The corrugated metal sheet-l5 is provided with corrugations, preferably of the shape herein shown, andalternate corrugations IS on the underside are normally open, and are closed by the ceiling metal sheet M to form ducts or raceways H, which alternate with corrugations l8 open at their upper ends.

The ceiling metal sheet l4 and the corrugated metal sheet l5 are designed to form a permanent part of the building and may be secured to the supporting beams l0, l2 in any suitable manner.

The corrugated upper sheet I5 is designed to form a permanent form upon which is poured concrete or other fire-resisting material, to form'a concrete floor preferably comprising a substantially flat slab 20 having ribs 2| projecting from its underside, which ribs are formed by the concrete which fills the open corrugations .on the upper side of the corrugated sheet l5.

The concrete floor is reinforced by metal rods 22 or other-metal reinforcing means which are laid'in the open upper corrugations and suitably arranged therein before the concrete is poured on the corrugated metal sheet l5. Suflicient concrete is used to form a concrete floor capable of itself sustaining the loads placed upon it. and which also is fully fire-resisting independently of the metal sheets.

It is preferred to make the concrete floor with a slab of a thickness at least two inches above the upper or top walls of the cells or ducts II to satisfy the requirements of the building codes now called for by the authorities in this country. In Fig. 1, the span or space between the beams Ill, I2 is covered by a continuous ceiling metal sheet l4 and a corrugated metal form sheet [5, which have their opposite ends extended over and supported by the beams I0, I2, which also support the ends of the metal sheets l4, l5, which cover adjacent spans or spaces, with the ducts or raceways I! in alignment, so as to torm continuous ducts or raceways through which electric wires may be fished or run from above the concrete floor slab through holes made in the slab and in the top walls of the ducts or raceways, or the latter may be directly entered from below the concrete floor'through holes made in the ceiling metal sheet I.

From the above description, it will be seen that by means of the present invention the building may be provided at a minimum cost with floors of a minimum thickness which are not only fully fire-resisting and of the proper load-carrying capacities but are also provided with ducts or raceways through which electric wires may be led into the building from above or below the floorsand enable the electric service of the building to 2 aromas be adapted to the requirements of the users of the building. The metal beams I0, I! are protected from fire by suitable fire-resisting material 25 which may be of any suitable or desired construction such as now commonly used.

What is claimed is: i

In a fire proof building structure, in combination, two steel floor supporting members spaced apart and a unitary composite concrete and metal fiooroperatively supported upon said steel supporting members, said fioor comprising a lower steel sheet forming a substantially fiat ceiling member. and supported directly upon the metallic supporting members, a corrugated upper steel sheet welded to the lower steel sheet to form therewith a loadcarrying member having a plurality of spaced apart andlongitudinally extended'cells forming hollow load supporting beams and also potential wire distributing raceways, a slab of concrete filling the open corrugations in said upper steel sheets and extended sufilciently above the top of said raceways as to afiord required fire proofing therefor, and fire proofing means around the sides and bottom of the said metal floor supporting members whereby the metal floor supporting members are efilcientiy fire prooied by the concrete slab and said fire proofing means.

JALIEB HOWARD YOUNG. a 

